Servier Extends Cortex Collaborative Research Support for Two Years.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2004

S-40929 Selected as a Lead Developmental Candidate From

Collaboration

Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX:COR) announced that Les Laboratoires Servier ("Servier"), France's largest privately held pharmaceutical company, has extended their funding of the Collaborative Research Agreement with Cortex. The initial research support began on December 7, 2000 and expired on December 6, 2003. Under the terms of the newly amended Agreement, Cortex will receive approximately $4.3 million of support over the next two years. Thereafter support will continue on an annual basis unless either company wishes to terminate the Agreement. This support is in addition to Servier's eight quarterly payments of $500,000 that commenced on October 2002 to find an AMPAKINE(R) compound that has specific anti-anxiety properties.

In addition, Servier and Cortex have selected an AMPAKINE collaborative compound, S-40929, as an advanced, preclinical development candidate. In memory tests carried out in primates, S-40929 is about 2000 times more active than CX516, and based on its effects on AMPA receptors, it is considered more likely to increase the levels of neurotrophins, such as BDNF.

"This additional investment in Cortex by Servier is a strong vote of confidence in our AMPAKINE technology and in a very productive partnership," said Dr. Roger G. Stoll, Chairman, President and CEO of Cortex. "Servier is a company that has a great deal of knowledge and experience about AMPA receptor upmodulators from their preclinical and clinical work with their compound, S-18986," added Dr. Stoll. "With the additional payments, Cortex will be in a position to capitalize on what has been learned during the past three years, in which hundreds of new high impact AMPAKINE compounds have been generated and characterized in this collaboration."

About Servier

Servier is the largest privately owned pharmaceutical company in France. It is the third-ranked French drug group worldwide and the 14th in the European ranking of drug companies. Servier is a privately owned company, established in 1954 by its founder and current Chairman Jacques Servier, M.D. The Servier Group has 70 subsidiaries and markets its products in 140 countries with its main therapeutic products used to treat diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neuropsychiatric disorders, oncology, and bone and joint diseases. Servier has obtained regulatory approval for over 30 medicines originating from its own research over the past 30 years. http://www.servier.com/)

About Cortex Pharmaceuticals:

Cortex, located in Irvine, California, is a neuroscience company focused on novel drug therapies for neurological and psychiatric disorders. The Company is pioneering a class of proprietary pharmaceuticals called AMPAKINE compounds, which act to increase the strength of signals at connections between brain cells. The loss of these connections is thought to be responsible for memory and behavior problems in Alzheimer's disease. Many psychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia, occur as a result of imbalances in the brain's neurotransmitter system. These imbalances may be improved by using the AMPAKINE technology. Cortex has alliances with N.V. Organon for the treatment of schizophrenia and depression and with Les Laboratoires Servier for the development of AMPAKINE compounds to treat the neurodegenerative effects associated with aging and disease, including Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer's disease and anxiety disorders. Cortex is currently developing CX717, a second generation AMPAKINE compound, for the Alzheimer's disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment indications.

(http://www.cortexpharm.com/)

Forward Looking Statement:

Note -- This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning the Company's research and development activities, clinical trials and business development plans. Actual results may differ materially, depending on a number of risk factors, including the risks that the agreements with Organon and Servier will not result in any commercial products or that any additional milestone payments will be earned by the Company; that the Company may be unable to arrive at additional corporate partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies on acceptable terms and therefore be required to independently fund clinical development of AMPAKINE compounds through the sale of additional equity securities or otherwise; that the Company's proposed products may at any time be found to be unsafe or ineffective for any or all of their proposed indications; that competitors may challenge or design around the Company's patents or develop competing technologies; and that clinical studies may at any point be suspended or take substantially longer than anticipated to complete. As discussed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the Company's proposed products will require additional research, lengthy and costly clinical testing and regulatory approval. AMPAKINE compounds are investigational drugs and have not yet been shown to have efficacy in the treatment of any disease.